Coconut Chicken Thai Curry – a flavorful and mild spicy chicken and vegetable thai curry recipe. Ready in under 30 minutes, and healthy too! Paleo, Whole30, gluten free and low carb.
Welcome Whole30 friends! I have lots of delicious Whole30 dinner recipes that will make this 30 day cleanse easy and tasty!
Don’t you just love free food samples? A little tray of chopped up muffins at the coffee shop? Yes please. Some chopped up fruit at the Farmers Market? Why not. A cracker with some cheese at the grocery store? Don’t mind if I do!
I think we can all agree that the very best free food samples are at Trader Joe’s. All the food at Trader Joe’s is tasty, and I love trying out their newest products at the sample table. Sometimes we’ll make a quick trip to Trader Joe’s where I just need 1 thing (usually wine, right?), but Shawn is conditioned to always head straight to the sample counter to pig out. That guy loves his free food.
It was at a Trader Joe’s sample table where I tasted curry for the first time. It was one of their frozen dinners, and I became instantly obsessed with the exotic flavors. I had to have more.
I first tried to make curry from scratch trying to recreate it from my mind, thinking it would be easy. I cooked chicken and made a sauce with heavy cream, chicken stock, and curry powder. Ick, it was just all wrong. Nothing like what I had tasted.
Luckily my friend Caitlin introduced me to the magical wonders of red thai curry paste and coconut milk. Finally, delicious curry!
I also love my big nonstick wok that I got as a wedding present. The big size leaves plenty of room for all the veggies I throw in here.
I love my coconut chicken thai curry with tons of vegetables. My go to veggies are zucchini, bell pepper, and green onions. But I’ve also used all sorts of combinations of potato, carrots, cauliflower, butternut squash, anything I have on hand. So feel free to customize it to your taste.
Not only is this coconut chicken thai curry easy to make (ready in under 30 minutes!), but it is really healthy too! It’s gluten free, and if you serve it with cauliflower rice it is paleo, Whole30 and low carb. My favorite way to make this curry paleo / Whole30 is to serve it over a baked sweet potato. Yum! This recipe is also wonderful without the chicken to make it vegan / vegetarian. Great for meatless Monday!
This curry is only mildly spicy, which is how I like it. But if you like a lot of heat, add in some red pepper flakes, which Shawn sprinkles on top like a madman. Leftovers make a great lunch the next day too, so don’t be shy to make a double batch.
- 8 ounces boneless skinless chicken breast, chopped into 1" pieces and seasoned with salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil, divided
- 2 zucchini, cut into ½" x 2" spears
- 1 red bell pepper, ribs and seeds removed, sliced
- 1 cup green onions, chopped (about 8 stalks)
- half a yellow onion, sliced
- 1 teaspoon ginger paste (or 1" piece of fresh ginger, grated)
- 2 cloves of garlic, grated or finely minced
- 2 tablespoons red thai curry paste
- (1) 16 ounce can coconut cream (or coconut milk or light coconut milk. NOT coconut creamer like what you would use for you coffee.)
- salt and pepper
- red pepper flakes for garnish if you like it spicy
- 2 cups cooked rice (or cauliflower rice or a baked sweet potato for Paleo/Whole30), for serving
- Heat a wok or your largest skillet over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon coconut oil and cook the chicken breast until golden brown and cooked thru, about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Transfer the cooked chicken to a plate.
- With the heat still over high, melt another tablespoon of coconut oil in the wok. Add in all the vegetables and season with salt and pepper. Cook the vegetables until starting to brown slightly on the edges, but still crisp tender, about 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and ginger, cook for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add in the thai curry paste and stir to combine. Add in the coconut milk and stir to combine. Add the chicken back in, and cook for another few minutes until heated thru.
- Spoon the coconut chicken thai curry over rice (or cauliflower rice) and serve warm. Top with red pepper flakes if you like more spice.
- Leftovers will keep in an airtight container for 3 days.
More Whole30 Dinner Recipes:
Pork Chops with Orange Pecan Pesto
Grilled Chicken with Balsamic Berry Salsa
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Thanks for the shout out! And I’m so glad you like it. Such an easy and healthy weeknight meal. I haven’t ventured into cauliflower rice yet, but I should probably try it. I’m with Shawn….straight to the TJs sample counter :)
Thank YOU for showing me the correct way to make curry Caitlin! After my first recipe flop, I kind of gave up on it. But your pumpkin curry post showed me how simple and delicious it is! To be honest, I am not a big fan of cauliflower rice, at all. It’s just never how I want it to be. But to keep this paleo/Whole30 I actually serve it over a baked sweet potato! It’s really good : )
this is delicious!! we are obsessed with curry and coconut! love all the veggies, as hubby needs to eat more. We added more cumin and cinnamon for more heat ( we love spice!)
thanks for the awesome recipe!!
So glad you liked it!
Oh wow. Looks so good. Coconut everything….and I’m in. This looks like the perfect meal.
Happy Wednesday friend!
Yes, coconut all the things!
Dish was way too sweet!
Did you use use plain canned coconut milk? Make sure you didn’t accidentally grab sweetened coconut milk. This shouldn’t be sweet at all.
Recipe said creme of coconut so that is what we bought. I will try again one day
Oh dear! It calls for coconut cream, which is just more coconut fat content than coconut milk. I get mine at Trader Joe’s, but they have it at Whole Foods also. If you can’t find it just use full fat coconut milk, or light coconut milk. Creme of coconut is a sweetened coconut milk used for drinks and baking. That would have definitely made it too sweet! Sorry you read it wrong. I hope you’ll try it again, it is DELICIOUS!
I also tried this recipe and got coconut cream as it said in the recipe and it came out horrible. If you meant coconut milk you should just leave out the cream part….
Did you get coconut creamer? Like what you would put in your coffee from the refrigerator section? You want to get a can of coconut cream, which is coconut milk with a higher fat content, so it is thicker. They’re usually right next to each other at the grocery store.
This looks FANTASTIC! Love me some curry. I gotta say though, I never eat those free samples. I have a weird thing about germs, so I can’t stomach eating samples at the grocery store or even the farmers market. Yeah, I’m a total nut job. You can judge me. :-)
Thanks Liz! I’m a major curry addict too. And it’s probably smart to steer clear of samples. I always avoid samples at Costco. Those are never anything good!
What a gorgeous dish, Natalie! I love the colors! I’ve never actually had thai curry, so I’m going to have to change that! I love the flavors in here. Sounds like the perfect weeknight meal!
Thanks Gayle. And oh my gosh, you must try thai curry! Before I had it, I assumed it would be spicy and weird. But it is SO good! Just warm spices in coconut milk. What’s not to love?
Um, could our minds be any more alike?! I am currently insanely obsessed with chicken curry right now too and even have a recipe scheduled to go up in the next few weeks! Foodie buddies we are! :) This seriously looks SO amazing and is speaking straight to my curry-craving heart! Love all that veggie goodness.
Great minds think alike! Can’t wait to see your recipe. I seriously make curry a few times a month, and am always looking for fun variations to mix things up.
My husband would be allllll over this, and it looks mighty tasty to me, too! I love curry and we actually got a wok as a wedding gift, too. Spencer just broke it out last weekend, and we’ve already used it twice since then! He was so funny with having to “season it” and do all this crazy stuff. I was kind of amazed, actually. Will have to get this on the menu for us!
You must make this for Spencer. He will love you for it! Haha! And that’s so funny because I didn’t use our wok for a long time too. I actually forgot we had it until we moved. But now I use it a ton, especially for stir fries and this curry : )
Girl, this put a smile on my face this morning! I loooove Thai Chicken Curry! I’ve been trying to develop a recipe myself but I love how simple yours is. Can’t wait to try it! Pinning!
This curry looks so creamy and delicious! I love the color of the sauce – it looks so flavorful. And I love that it only takes 30 minutes to make. Can’t wait to try this!
I’m a huge curry fan and this looks great Natalie! I have a shrimp curry and salmon curry up on my blog. So, I’m totally on board with this chicken version! I love all the veggies you used. Can’t wait to try it!
We went out to dinner a few weeks ago, and I ordered shrimp curry. So great with seafood! I’m going to have to try your salmon curry next. That will be a fun way to mix things up. Thanks Keri!
This looks amazingly delicious, Natalie! I adore curry too, and yours looks fabulous. I just saw a recipe for coconut rice on Kitchen Treaty and I want to make this and that and devour all the coconutty curry yumminess. Totally agreed about Trader Joe’s having the best samples!
Oooh, I’ve served this with coconut rice before. So good! My real favorite is cooking the rice in coconut water. Still leaves you a light and fluffy rice, but flavored with coconut. Yum!
We love curry! I love how flavorful that sauce looks – perfect for warming up on a cold night!
Thanks Kelly!
This looks delicious! Pinned to make. :)
This looks absolute amazing, Natalie! We adore curry and I love all the veggies you added in here! Serving it with cauliflower rice sounds like the perfect healthy meal! :)
I love finding new ways to make and prepare curry. The sauce is such a pretty color too!
Thanks Shelby! It is a pretty color. Except for when I drip it on my white shirt, haha!
I still haven’t tried cauliflower rice! I think I am going to need to whip some up to go with this beautiful coconut chicken curry! Pinned! And I love that you include a video with every recipe. I know its a lot of work but it adds such a special touch! =)
To be super honest, I’m not really that big of a fan of cauliflower rice. It’s ok, but not life changing. My actual favorite way to eat this curry to keep in paleo/gluten free is over a roasted sweet potato! And I know from your delicious looking sweet potato chips yesterday that you like sweet potatoes too : )
And thank you SO much for the compliments on the video! They’re a little (a lot!) more work, but Shawn films them and edits them for me so I have lots of help. I think they’re great for novice cooks, or people who need a lot of reassurance on how a recipe should look during the cooking process. You’re so nice Mariah!
I love the samples at Trader Joe’s but I equally love when they’re cooking and giving away samples at Whole Foods. Tonight they were sampling sword fish and it was out of this world amazing.
I’m a huge curry fan myself. This dish looks very good and I can just tell by looking at the sauce that it’s amazingly flavorful.
I’ve discovered so many delicious foods from the Trader Joe’s sample table. I need to hit up Whole Foods more, can’t believe they were giving out samples of Swordfish!
I love Thai flavors and I rarely make those dishes at home. This is really inspiring me — I want to drink that sauce! This looks absolutely delicious, Natalie! :)
You should give this recipe a try Marcie! So easy to throw together, and tastes amazing! Just as good as Thai takeout.
Natalie, I am soooo impressed by this recipe!! Curries are not easy to do! I can’t wait to try this!!! and hahah, I love the food samples at TJ’s. . I will always buy whatever they are sampling. . I’m such a sucker like that! :P love this!!!!
Thanks Alice! I’ve definitely added in some items that were not on the grocery list thanks to the Trader Joe’s sample table. Whoosp! *wink*
I’m thinking I can use this sauce in like a MILLION things, bc it looks straight up incredible. Yums Nat!
I just love this Thai curry sauce. So easy and so delicious! Thanks Christine : )
When we were in Maui there was a restaurant downtown giving away free pizza samples! My husband was in heaven :) I’ve never made any kind of curry before but I always love to order it out. For some reason I’ve been a little scared to make it on my own! This looks so good and so healthy which is a big plus!
Coconut chicken curry is my favorite! I try to make it a few times a month. Love red curry paste!
Free samples are the BEST. I’ve only had curry once, but I’m surprised how much I liked it! This looks super good!
I love Trader Joe’s! This curry looks so flavorful and I love all the bright colors. It would be so comforting with some rice and some good tv :)
I LOVE thai curry! When I was in Thailand I must have eaten it every single day! Your version looks just perfect, so creamy and all those veggies in there= super healthy too!
Oh man… I can’t go shopping at Costco when I’m hungry because I just want to eat ALL THE FREE SAMPLES! Lol! My TJ’s doesn’t seem to have them that often, but I agree they do have the best fun foods! I love coconut curries… so delicious… and so great for using up whatever veggies you happen to have!
Free samples are the best! Like a little appetizer to enjoy while you shop. Thanks Jess!
Thank you for this recipe! My 8 year old loved it and asked for seconds, that never happens! :)
I am so happy to hear that Brandy! I love this recipe. So quick and easy and DELICIOUS! Impressed your 8 year old is eating curry. I didn’t have curry until I was in my 20’s. Sounds like you’ve got a good eater on your hands. Thank you for taking the time to let me know you liked my recipe. You just made my day!
Just walked in from work after a 12 hour day on a Thursday night and this is what I’m making, again! We did this on our second whole30 and now it’s in the weekly rotation. So fast, so easy, so good!
Sounds like you reallllly needed a good dinner after a long day of working. I’m so glad you made my curry! It’s funny, because I made it for dinner on Sunday! I forgot how much I love it. But now that it is fall, I am all about cooking up warm and comforting dinners. But this one is so healthy, I had a second serving without any guilt! Thank you so much for taking the time to tell me you liked my recipe Rachel. It makes my day! Big hugs to you :)
Just made this recipe exactly as written and it is DELICIOUS!! My husband and I love curries as they are a great way to pack in lots of veggies. I found this recipe (and your wonderful site) by googling “paleo Thai curry” – and I’m so glad I did. Thank you!
I am so happy to hear that Jessica! This recipe is perfect for Whole30 or Paleo. We did Whole30 last January, and I made this curry once a week with cauliflower rice. So good! I love how easy it is to throw together, and you’re right, it is a great way to pack in a ton of vegetables. Thank you for taking the time to let me know you liked my recipe! You just made my day! Hugs!
Hi. I am making this tonight and hope it comes out good, it looks delicious! I just didn’t know if you know that in the beginning of your post when you describe the dish, it has the ingredient Thai Curry Paste, but in the ingredient list it references Thai Sweet Chili Paste, which is definitely NOT Whole30 compliant. I had to go back and read it a bunch of times to figure it out! Just wanted to give you a heads up.
Oh my gosh, you are so right Susan! Thank you so much for catching that! I went in and fixed it and changed it to Thai Curry Paste. You are so sweet to tell me! That would have made this taste WAY different! Haha! So glad you liked it too. It’s one of my favorites. And perfect for Whole30! Big hugs to you!
Holy Smokes! I just made this for day 3 of my Whole30. It was flipflopping delicious! I’m actually happy that it ended up too spicy for my kids because that way I didn’t have to share. I am so looking forward to leftovers!
I’m so happy to hear that Sara! It was a lifesaver for me during Whole30. Tasted like a totally indulgent dinner, but healthy! I still make it all the time. Haha, and love that you have leftovers for yourself! You can totally adjust the amount of thai curry paste you add to make it more kid friendly too. I use Thai Kitchen red curry and don’t find it too spicy at all. Sometimes I add even more than I have written in this recipe if I want more of a kick. And my husband really likes spice so he’ll sprinkle on red pepper flakes for extra kick on his.
Thanks for taking the time to let me know you love my recipe! You just made my day! Hugs!
This is the best Thai curry recipe I’ve ever tried. Tastes like the one from my favorite restaurant, except I KNOW it’s healthy and all that goes into it. For anyone who likes it, I also add pineapple chunks to the veggie mixture and it creates a really nice sweet/savory balance! I also top with cilantro. Thanks so much…this is a weekly staple in our house!
Kristen! You are TOO NICE! I actually like this way more than any curry I can get in a restaurant for the same reason, I know everything that is in it. And I love your idea of adding pineapple! What a great idea! And cilantro too. Mmm, the more flavor the better. Thanks for taking the time to let me know you liked my recipe. You made my day!
Really loved this. I LOVE curry and try a lot of different recipes, and this was a favorite-and so simple!
Yea! That makes me so happy Heather! I seriously make this twice a month. Sometimes with chicken, sometimes with shrimp, sometimes with just all veggies. Great quick and delicious dinner. Thanks for taking the time to let me know you liked my recipe. Big hugs to you!
This was delicious! I opted to have mine over zoodles (I cut back to only 1 zucchini in the recipe). The flavors were perfect! Thanks!
Oooh, love the idea of having it over zoodles! Will save you a ton of carbs, and still keep it paleo/whole 30. Glad you liked it Caitlin! Thanks for letting me know!
Great recipe! My boyfriend seemes leary to try it and the first words out of his mouth was ” this is f@#*ing delicious’. I did add some cashews and 2 tsp of coconut sugar and indeed it was delicious. I will definitely be making again 😉
Yea! He loved it! Haha! I love that Samantha. It is such a favorite in our house. I seriously make it twice a month. Love your idea of adding cashews and coconut sugar! Mmm! I’m going to try that next time. Thanks for letting me know you liked my recipe. You made my day!
I made this for dinner last night. I didn’t have any zucchini so I used broccoli instead. It was delicious! My husband and I both loved it. I’ve tried curry before and have NEVER had success, but this one is easy and so tasty!
I’m so glad you and your husband liked it Melanie! And smart using broccoli instead of zucchini. I’m going to try that next time! I had so many curry fails until I finally perfected this version. The one that was just curry powder and milk on top of veggies was particularly gross. Thanks for letting me know you liked my recipe! Made my day!
Yum! I made this last night for dinner with brown rice. I love red thai curry! Next time I will probably cut the coconut milk in half (I used lite coconut milk). I really wanted the ginger flavor to come through, because I love ginger but it got drowned out from all the milk and it got a little soupy. I also had to add a ton of salt at the end, and I think cutting down on the milk would let it be more flavorful without all the salt. Thanks for the recipe! I will be making it again :)
I’m so happy to hear that you liked my recipe Jamie! When I make this with lite coconut milk, I only put in about 2/3 of the can, since the lite coconut milk is thinner than coconut cream. Otherwise, I use the thick coconut cream that I get at Trader Joe’s. Hope next time with your tweaks it’s even better and to your liking! Thanks for taking the time to let me know that you liked recipe. You made my day!
Hello! I was wondering if you had an estimated calorie or nutritional count? I’m currently tracking that and I’m more than willing to enter everything in, but I wanted to see if you had that information first.
Hi Kady! I actually don’t give calorie estimates anymore because it can vary depending on the exact ingredients you use. But when I calculate calories I love caloriecount.com! Hope you love this recipe when you try it. It is such a favorite in our house.
WOW, just wow. This dish is AMAZING! One of the best dishes I have ever made/had and it is now my husband’s favorite. Thanks for the share!
Thank you Margot! I’m so happy to hear that! Big hugs. Thanks for making my day : )
This was amazing. I’m on Day 7 of my Whole 30. We tweaked the recipe a bit based on our tastes and pantry. I used coconut milk (not coconut cream), carrots instead of zucchini, and Madras curry powder. I also added a diced jalapeño without seeds and some fresh cilantro. My husband couldn’t stop raving. Thank you for your delicious recipe!
I’m so happy to hear that Wendy! I love that you added diced jalapeno and cilantro, I’m going to try that next time!
I made this in a jiffy on a busy weekday, and OH MY goodness, how delicious! I tweaked it a little bit based on what I had on hand. Made it paleo for me (put it over roasted cauliflower cut up in very small pieces) and over rice for my family. The ultimate compliment, I think, was my 11 year old son LOVED it! He said he wants this meal on our regular dinners list. YESSSS! Thanks so much for this winner!
I used this as inspiration to jazz up an old recipe I used to make that also has cashews and then opted to make sweet potato noodles instead of using rice!
It was delcious, my boyfriend could not get enough!
Does this freeze well? I’m starting Whole30 in January and planning on making big batches of meals to freeze for later in the month.
I just made this and what a delicious and simple recipe! The entire family loved it. Will definitely be making it again.
So glad you liked it Sumer!
Finally a recipe to replace all the Thai curry take out we’ve been ordering lately! Loved the recipe and is our new go-to using whatever veggies we have on hand. Thanks!!
Yea! So glad you liked it Michelle! We make this all the time. So delicious and healthy! Thanks for letting me know, made my day!
I started a Paleo diet and was searching for a good curry recipe. This was it!! Wow, this was like something you would buy from a restaurant. My son who turns his nose up at curry was dipping into the sauce. I think this could be used for other meat than just chicken and still taste wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing this delicious recipe. I will definitely make again. My only change: I used onion, carrots and broccoli for my vegies as that was all I had on hand. Yummy.
I’m so glad you liked it Jennie! We make this once or twice a month. So good!